Ukraine’s military ⁠said on Friday it ⁠struck ​Russia’s ⁠Bashneft-Novoil ⁠oil ​refinery over 1,400 ⁠kilometres (870 ‌miles) from the ‌Ukrainian ‌border.

The attack ⁠sparked a fire, the general staff ‌said ​on ‌the Telegram ⁠app.

Russia launched a “massive” missile and drone strike on Friday near the Ukrainian capital, killing one person and injuring eight, regional authorities reported.

“The Kyiv region is once again under a massive Russian missile and drone attack,” said Mykola Kalashnyk, head of the regional military administration, in a Telegram post on Friday morning.

According to Kalashnyk, one person died and at least eight more suffered injuries as a result of strikes on three of Kyiv’s satellite towns — Bucha, Fastiv and Obukhiv.

Poland has scrambled fighter jets ⁠due to Russian air strikes ⁠on ​Ukraine, ⁠the Operational Command of ⁠the ​Polish Armed ⁠Forces ‌said this morning.

“Duty fighter ‌jets have ‌been scrambled, and ⁠ground-based air defence systems as well as radar reconnaissance have reached ‌a state ​of maximum ‌readiness,” ⁠the army ⁠said on ‌X.

President ​Volodymyr Zelensky said the frontline situation for Ukraine was the best in 10 months, ⁠adding that Kyiv’s troops had foiled a Russian offensive last month.

“The offensive they were ⁠planning for ​March ⁠was thwarted by the actions of our armed ⁠forces. That is why ​the ⁠Russians will now simply ‌step up their assault operations,” Zelensky said, in remarks released ‌by his office ‌this morning.

The Ukrainian leader said that he invited US ⁠negotiators to visit Kyiv during an online meeting earlier this week and had heard “positive signals” in response to his proposal.

“Overall, the front line is ‌holding … The situation ​is complex, but the best ‌it has ⁠been in the last ⁠10 months,” he said, citing data ‌from the ​Ukrainian and ‌British intelligence.

• Russia made no frontline gains in Ukraine during March, marking the first time in two and a half years, with Ukrainian forces recapturing 9 square kilometres.
• The slowdown in Russian advances is attributed to Ukrainian counteroffensives and communication issues, including Russia’s ban on Starlink terminals and attempts to restrict Telegram.
• Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk stated that Donald Trump’s threat to withdraw from NATO, citing a lack of support for his war in Iran, appears to be ‘Putin’s dream plan’.
• Trump indicated he was ‘seriously considering’ Washington’s withdrawal from the military alliance, claiming members ‘were not there for us’ during his conflict in Iran.
• Ukraine’s military has refuted Russia’s assertion of having taken complete control of the eastern Luhansk region, reporting no significant changes on the battlefield.

Military aviation operations in Polish airspace ⁠linked to Russian strikes on Ukraine have ended ⁠and ​no ⁠violations of Polish ⁠airspace were recorded, ​the Operational ⁠Command of ‌the Polish Armed Forces ‌said today.

“Activated ‌ground-based air defence ⁠and radar reconnaissance systems have returned to standard operational activities,” the army wrote on ‌X. “We inform ​that ‌no violation ⁠of the ⁠airspace of the Republic ‌of ​Poland ‌was observed.”

The Swedish Coast Guard said ​this morning it had seized an oil tanker in the Baltic Sea that is believed to be part of the ⁠Russian shadow fleet and suspected to be the source of a 12km oil spill off the island of Gotland.

The Swedish Coast Guard has stepped up ⁠efforts to stop vessels ​connected with ⁠Russia in recent months. The tanker, Flora 1, was seized off Sweden’s southern ⁠coast, it said.

Flora 1 had embarked from Russian ⁠port Primorsk, with an unclear ‌destination, according to MarineTraffic data.

The oil spill is not expected to reach shore, the ‌Coast Guard said.It said it had ‌started an investigation regarding a suspected environmental crime. It said it understood the vessel was on the EU sanctions ⁠list, adding that its flag status was unclear.

“The Russian shadow fleet, consisting of older, poorly insured tankers that evade sanctions, poses a significant security and environmental threat,” Swedish minister for civil defence Carl-Oskar Bohlin said on X, naming the Flora ‌1 in his comments.

“The government is taking ​the incident seriously, even though this time ‌it is not a ⁠major oil spill.”

European nations have increased ⁠efforts to disrupt the so-called shadow fleet of tankers used ‌by Moscow ​to fund its four-year war ‌against Ukraine. Russia has ​condemned such moves as hostile.